Category Archives: Uncategorized
Sullivan Halloween Parade 2019
Sullivan Homecoming Parade 2019 Photos
Obituaries 9-4-2019: Mary Lou Harshman
Mary Lou Harshman
Mary Lou Harshman, 90, of Sullivan, passed away at 2:38 p.m. Tuesday, August 27, 2019 at Courtyard Estates in Sullivan.
Graveside services were held at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, August 31 in Greenhill Cemetery in Sullivan. McMullin-Young Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements. Read More
One hundred years of American Legion Post 68 celebrations
Photos by Mike Brothers and R.R. Best.
Obituaries 5-29-2019: Cathy Kastning
Cathy Kastning
Cathy Ann Kastning, 57, of Sullivan passed away at 4:42 a.m. Tuesday, May 21, 2019 in St. Mary’s Hospital in Decatur.
Memorial services were held at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 25 in Faith Lutheran Church in Sullivan. McMullin-Young Funeral Home in Sullivan was in care of the arrangements. Read More
Obituaries 2-6-2019: Donna Whitaker
Donna Whitaker
Donna M. Whitaker, 80, of Sullivan, passed away at 3:08 p.m. Saturday, February 2, 2019 in St. Mary’s Hospital in Decatur.
Celebration of Life services were held at 1:30 p.m. today (Wednesday) in Reed Funeral Home with Pastor Tim Henderson and Pastor Al Rennert officiating. Burial was in Greenhill Cemetery in Sullivan. Read More
Bicycle Gifts at SES/LGS
Bicycle Gifts at SES/LGS
Nathaniel Gonzalez and Molly Owens were chosen at random from all the students at Sullivan Elementary School to receive new bicycles. The bicycle give away has been conducted by the French family for the past 29 years in Lovington and expanded to include Sullivan this year. Joc explained the family decided to include Sullivan this year since his daughter McKenzie is now a kindergartener at SES. Pictured in the top photo with their new bicycles are Abigail Franklin, Joc’s niece Austyn Scroggins, French with daughter McKenzie, nephew Lincoln Scroggins and bike winner Jacob Ayer. Below, bike winners pictured are Molly Owens, McKenzie French, Bike Give away coordinator Joc French and Nathaniel Gonzalez.
Sullivan Senior is Voice of Democracy Winner
•December 26, 2018•
Paige McLaughlin, a senior at Sullivan High School, was the first place winner in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy essay contest.
McLaughlin will receive $100 for first place from VFW Post 6410 who sponsored the contest and will go on to compete at the district level.
Since 1947, the Voice of Democracy has been the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ (VFW’s) premier scholarship program. Each year nearly 40,000 high school students compete for more than $2 million in scholarships and incentives. Students compete by writing and recording an audio essay on an annual patriotic theme. This year’s theme is Why My Vote Matters.
Thinking About Health: Medicare Advantage Directories Are Full Of Outdated, Incorrect Information
•December 26, 2018•
By Trudy Lieberman,
Rural Health News Service
The other day came a lengthy report (https://go.cms.gov/2StPAIu) from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcing worrisome findings for anyone with a Medicare Advantage plan or anyone thinking about buying one in the future. The findings are also relevant to anyone buying any kind of health insurance this year.
The ominous takeaway? The information given to consumers in the provider directories is deeply flawed, often misleading, inaccurate, and “can create a barrier to care,” CMS said. Imagine choosing a plan based on the information stating your doctor is in the plan’s network, only to find he or she is not and you have to find a new doctor, perhaps in an inconvenient location.
Actually, finding any provider at all may be hard. CMS said that providers were not located at one-third of the addresses indicated in the provider directories. That means if a beneficiary tried to make an appointment with the doctor at a particular location, they’d be out of luck. Government researchers noted that sometimes providers did not work or accept the health plan at any of the locations listed in the directory.
Had the provider ever been part of the health plan’s network? Good question! CMS said this was a “concern.”
About half of the online directories the agency sampled had at least one inaccuracy. The directories included incorrect phone numbers, indications that a provider was accepting new patients when that wasn’t the case, and claims that providers were practicing at locations where they were not.
All these findings, of course, raise the question: Why so many mistakes given how detrimental this bad information can be to seniors? CMS investigated that, too, and found a “general lack of internal audit and testing of directory accuracy among many Medicare Advantage organizations.” The health plans rely on credentialing services and vendor support to ensure directory accuracy, which is not exactly a reliable method, the agency concluded.